Num 8:19, And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary." 
	In this morning’s reading, we have the direct commandment of the Lord as to how to prepare the Levite’s for service unto the priests and unto the Lord. The chapter deals with the manner of their preparation and the means of their sanctification before the holiness of God.
	It is important to recognize that the Levites were not priests. They were taken, as a tribe, from the midst of the other tribes of the Israelites to serve the Lord as the representation of all the firstborn of the nation. They were the Lord’s own, and the Lord gave them to the sons of Aaron, the priestly order, to help with all the heavy labor concerning the service of the Tent of Meeting and, later, the Temple of the Lord. Accordingly, they were the buffer between the rest of the nation and the holy ground surrounding the Tent of Meeting in the placement of their encampment.
	If you will recall, in Num 1:52+53, God specifically set them around the Tent of Meeting in order to protect the rest of the people from harm. Num 1:52+53, And the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. "But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony." 
	This service as a buffer was reinforced, as in this morning’s text, because it was so important that the holiness of God was always in place in the heart of His people. They were to never forget that they were dealing with the Only, Living, Lord God Almighty, Who is the Essence, the very Being of Holiness. The Levites represented that respect for the awesome Holiness of God as they surrounded the Tent of Meeting in a constant reminder to the nation that God’s presence was never to be taken lightly or haphazardly. His Holiness was ever before the nation by the means of the barrier that the Levites represented.
	As well, they showed the grace and the mercy of God in the very provision for that barrier. They kept any person, who might unintentionally come too close to the Tent of Meeting from being annihilated in that wayward walk. They were positioned, by God’s own directive and statement, as a means of protecting the whole nation from such a wrathful judgment. Their very presence showed that God was concerned for and making His love for His people evident through such a visible means of safeguard. 
	In terms of their being the gift of God to the priests for the use of their help in the service of the Tent of Meeting, and later the Temple, please turn back to Num 3:6-10, so we can read of this together. Num 3:6-10, "Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. "They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death." 
	Again there is the provision of the Lord to keep the rest of the nation safe from transgressing against the holy place of the Lord. Still, the bulk of this passage stipulates the fact that because this tribe of Levi was the Lord’s inheritance among the nation, He was giving them to the priests to help with all those necessary tasks vital for the service of the Lord in dealing with the elements of the Tent and all its furnishings. 
	There were required duties that needed to be handled and accomplished with regard to the fact that the Tabernacle of the Lord was to be packed up and carried throughout the journeys of the wilderness and then set up at the end of each segment of the march until the people were settled in the Promised Land. The priestly order had their prescribed assignments and the Lord knew they needed help with the physical labor. Therefore He made this provision through the Levites.
	As well, the Levites were to receive the honor of the people as being chosen for this strenuous commission, set apart for the service of the priests and the Lord. This chapter detailed the manner in which they were sanctified before the nation and before God. They went through a whole regimen of preparation in order to show that they were set apart to the Lord and to the task of serving the priests. 
They were cleansed with water, both their bodies and their clothes. All the hair was shaved from their bodies, thus removing all the dirt and the oils and any other residue that might have been entangled therein. Please note this was a one time shaving simply to show the nation that these were men who were being sanctified unto the Lord. 
	Then the whole nation was to gather before the Tent of Meeting as the tribe of Levi was bringing the bulls and grain offerings of sacrifice before The Lord. First the people would lay their hands on the Levites, showing the substitutionary place of the Levites as the ransom for the firstborn. This was the public declaration that these men were the replacement and the redemption of the entire first born of Israel as belonging to the Lord. 
Then the priests would stand among the Levites and grasp their shoulders and wave them back and forth as a wave offering to the Lord. The Levites then placed their hands upon the heads of the bulls, completing the double substitutionary element of their sin and atonement before God. This was all the means of the most public display that the Lord was accepting this tribe for the sake of the entire nation, and then giving them to the priests as servants for life to the necessary tasks at hand.
	This was reinforced, as we can read together, in Num 18:2-6, if you would now turn ahead to that passage. Num 18:2-6, But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. "And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, lest both they and you die. And they shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not come near you. So you shall attend to the obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, that there may no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. And behold, I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. 
    	Throughout all of this, the care to consider the holiness of God had to be preeminent in the consciousness of the people. God was never to be taken lightly or as just a mere philosophical consideration. All the elements of the Tent of Meeting were to be deliberately and carefully managed under the precise instructions given by God. Nothing was to be done in any manner other than in the way that was so specified by The Lord.
	This absolute attention to honoring the Lord was reinforced much later in the history of Israel at the death of Eli’s sons. They did not regard their priestly office with anything close to honoring the Lord and being His instruments of holiness and righteousness in their duties before Him. They simply did the work as a job and sought to enrich themselves and increase their standing at what eventually cost them their lives and ended the priestly line from Eli. His sons took the Ark of the Lord into battle against the Philistines and it was captured and they were slain. 
The Philistines then tried to capitalize on the Ark of the Covenant and suffered sorely as a result. They finally sent the Ark away in order to get it out of their land. The Lord dealt very harshly with this whole lack of the consideration of His holiness and His Honor and His Righteousness as we read in 1 Sam 6:19+20. 
1 Sam 6:19+20, And He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?" 
	The Ark was eventually returned to the Israelites and kept safe until such time as it could be moved to Jerusalem by King David. Even then, there was the terrible consequence visited upon Uzza as he touched the Ark when it appeared to be falling out of the oxen cart by which it was being carried. Here was the severest penalty for not holding the true holiness of God as preeminent and following His so very specific guidelines to deal with God’s Holiness and His Holy articles in the precise manner of His instructions. David thought he knew better than the Lord and wanted to use his human inventive ideas above that ordained by God. The death of Uzza was the direct result of not honoring God’s Holiness and Instructions.
	This did not mean that everything that King David understood and did was false or out of line. At the end of David’s life, in preparation for the building of the Temple and the service of Levites therein, David received from God and relayed instructions concerning the new requirements that would be placed on the Tribe of Levi. If you would please turn to 1 Chron 23:25-32, we can read those new guidelines together.
	1 Chron 23:25-32, For David said, "The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever. And also, the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service." For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward. For their office is to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God, and with the showbread, and the fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers, or what is baked in the pan, or what is well-mixed, and all measures of volume and size. And they are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening, and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord, on the sabbaths, the new moons and the fixed festivals in the number set by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord. Thus they are to keep charge of the tent of meeting, and charge of the holy place, and charge of the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the Lord. 
	The duties and the responsibilities of the Levites had increased and the need for a greater number of them was evident. Therefore, the age of service, which included five years of training was lowered to 20 and they were now dealing with the Temple and the daily offerings of praise and whatever else was required of them in service to the Lord.
	This consecratedness of the Levites was in evidence much later as King Hezekiah reestablished the Temple service, as recounted in 2 Chron 29:31-36. Here it is evident that the Levites had maintained their full commitment to the Lord and His service, despite the seeming lack of that consecration by the priestly order. 
	2 Chron 29:31-36, Then Hezekiah answered and said, "Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord." And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who were willing brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. And the consecrated things were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed, and until the other priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests. And there were also many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and with the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was established again. Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly. 
    	Another King who had need of the consecrated service of the Levites was King Josiah, as recounted in 2 Chron 35:1-6. He recognized that the Lord considered the Levites to be His own and Holy to The Lord. Therefore, when it was the appropriate time, he gave them some respite from their having to carry the Ark of the Covenant all the time, and had them place it in the Temple which Solomon had constructed. 
	2 Chron 35:1-6, Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. And prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon. Moreover, stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers' households of your brethren the lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father's household. Now slaughter the Passover animals, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses." 
	In these passages, we see the hand of God upon these, His Levites in their service unto Him in both the Tent of Meeting and the Temple and with the Holy articles that were consecrated unto Him. They should be an example to us of how we are to be holy unto the Lord. He has chosen us unto Himself in Jesus Christ. We are to never treat Him with anything less than the full measure of commitment and dedication and reverence that He, Alone, deserves. 
We know the Levites were not always perfect in their service, and neither are we. However, the Lord does give us, in His Holy Word, the witness that the Levites were serving Him when all others had turned away and chosen to serve themselves. Their three-fold manner of serving God should be our course of life as we deal with our families, our friends and associates, our brothers and sisters-in-Christ, and our own hearts of honor and reverence unto God. So be it.
And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Deut 32:3+4. "For I proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God! "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. Amen.